Sitecore Composable World and MACH Principle

In today’s world, the need for digital transformation has skyrocketed in an unprecedented manner.

Companies have begun to carefully consider the impact and outcome of the underlying technologies that drive their digital experiences.

You’ve probably observed this change as well.

You may have also observed that your suite-style technology stack guiding your digital presence is no longer sufficient to cope with the rapidly emerging channels and dynamic customer demand.

Businesses are now turning to modern headless, microservices-based technologies. These MACH-architected digital commerce platforms focus on composable architecture by offering business leaders the ability to take a more modular and best-of-breed approach.

In this blog, we explore what Sitecore's composable world is, what MACH architecture is, and how it can support Sitecore’s composable world.

Sitecore’s Composable World: Composable DXP

What is DXP?

“DXP" stands for Digital Experience Platform. We can say this is an integrated set of core technologies that help content management systems (CMS) perform a wide range of tasks such as marketing automation, personalization, managing and generating analytics, customer data management, and other business and marketing needs.

What is composable DXP?

A Composable DXP provides digital experience solutions where platforms are broken up into smaller, interchangeable products known as individual ‘packaged-business-capabilities' (PBCs), which include email marketing, customer data platform (CDP), e-commerce, hosting, search, or a combination of many other products.

These are essentially digital experience platforms that are designed to also include integrated tools from outside of the pre-packaged suite, thereby facilitating collaboration between tools and services provided by different vendors, something that is not possible in monolithic DXPs.

Here, solutions work together via APIs to deliver content and digital experiences to customers in a more agile and flexible way in comparison to single, integrated, and essentially monolithic platforms. It essentially brings more of a microservices approach to the DXP space.

Benefits of adopting Composable DXP

• Centralized APIs and open-platform microservices connecting content management, customer data, and analytics that increase customer retention.
• Leveraging multiple channels, unifying touch-points, and providing relevant experiences.
• Cloud-based headless architecture that can deliver content across multiple channels thereby facilitating teams to deliver great content and better experiences quickly and reducing reliance on IT.
• Connected deep data between multiple systems that creates precise and actionable insights.
• The ability to bring together new best-of-breed technologies and allow businesses to efficiently upgrade and replace tools in their MarTech stack according to their needs.

 

What is MACH architecture?

MACH architecture is a set of technology principles that in recent times has received a fair amount of growing interest across the IT and developer community.

A growing number of technology providers and solutions increasingly focus on supporting a composable DXP and headless publishing.

MACH stands for Micro-Services, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless.

• Microservices: Moving away from a monolithic architecture to a range of separate, independent business capabilities focused on supporting a single function that can be maintained and deployed independently
• API-first: Using APIs to allow the disparate elements of the application to communicate and build a cohesive experience for the user
• Cloud-native: Using SaaS applications and cloud-based functionality for all aspects of the application, to ensure flexibility, scalability, and speed
• Headless: Decoupling front-end experiences from the back-end systems that power them, such as your core content management system.

Sitecore’s composable DXP

One of the most significant announcements at the 2021 Sitecore Symposium was the launch of the Sitecore Explorer Manager Cloud—a fully cloud-native CMS offering. The availability of a SaaS version of Sitecore is no surprise given that there were mentions of it at the 2020 symposium as well.

A core element in Sitecore’s SaaS strategy is its support for the creation of a composable DXP, a term that features in much of its messaging.

How can MACH architecture support Sitecore’s composable world?

• More flexibility escaping the constraints of monolithic dependencies
• More agility through faster speed to market
• Supporting best-of-breed tools that your team prefers
• No need to re-platform
• Future-proofing for innovation

 

Wrapping Up

With organizations transitioning toward future-proof ways of managing their digital experiences, the need to understand the differences between monolithic and composable DXPs only becomes crucial.

The principles of the MACH architecture that include ‘Microservices’, ‘APIs’, ‘Cloud-native’, and ‘Headless’ are very much in line with the governing principles of composable DXPs.

While this certainly does not hold true for monolithic DXPs, MACH architecture can definitely be a great architectural framework to implement composable DXPs, making a strong case for organizations to make the transition.

Curious and wish to find out more? Reach out to us and our team of certified experts will be sure to guide you in the right direction keeping the specific requirements of your business in mind.